Chelsea
football club is one of the strongest team in Europe. Last season Chelsea was
top of the EPL from day 1 to the last day which is an impressive record. During
the course of 2013/2014 season, Jose Mourinho had made excuses and claimed his
Chelsea team was "Little Horses," thus rejecting the favourite tag,
instead promising that the 2014/2015 season will be their vintage season. By
May 2015, it was clear that Mourinho was not just a coach but also a prophet as
his team swept the the EPL. This could not have been possible without the
creative wizardry of Cesc Fabregas who ended the season with an impressive 18
assists despite playing in deep midfield with Serbian Nemanja Matic for
most of the season. The main man tasked with creating chances and sharing the
pressure with Eden Hazard is Dos Santos Emboaba Jnr better known as Oscar.
Oscar ended the season with six goals in 28 appearances having a shot accuracy
of 51% and created 36 chances with eight assists. At the tail end of the
season, Oscar ran out of steel and became a shadow of himself as has been the
case since his first season at the club in 2012.
This
brings the question of selling club favorite Juan Mata to Manchester United. In
his two seasons at the club, Mata won the Fan's Player of The Season twice and
the Player's Player of The Season once , yet coach Jose Mourinho sold him based
on his inability to help the team when out of possession. This season, Chelsea has
made two major signings which are more of replacements than addition. Radamal
Falcao for Didier Drogba and Asmir Begovic for Petr Cech, while rivals like
Manchester United and Liverpool have made more than five major signings.
What
Chelsea needs next season isn't precisely a defender or a striker but a
creative play maker slightly behind the striker (Typical no 10). This is due to
the hot and cold form of Oscar and the fact that partnering Fabregas with Matic
brings out the best from the team. Even with the public pursuit of Barcelona's
Pedro and John Stones (Everton), what Chelsea urgently needs next season is a
playmaker to push Oscar to his high level by providing enough competition for
him and reduce the burden and pressure on star player Eden Hazard while feeding
Costa, Remy or Falcao.
The
playmaker role is difficult to get competent players to perform the role
consistently but with the likes of Miralem Pjanic, Felipe Andersonb and Isco
available then it could do Chelsea a favour to sign any of these.
At
25 years, Pjanic played 34 matches for AS Roma of Italy, scoring five goals and
creating ten assists and 63 chances with a shot accuracy of 53% although he
will come at a high cost given that he is a star player for Roma.
Felipe
Anderson is also just 22 years. He played 32 games , scoring 10 goals with
assist of seven , creating 32 chances with shot accuracy of 62%. Anderson
however, might not be an upgrade on Oscar but could be a worthy replacement for
him when Oscar isn't fit or gets injured.
Finally
Isco might be the best choice with his nine assists, four goals, 69% shot
accuracy , creating 53 chances all in 34 league matches, but he might be the
most expensive given he plays for Spanish power house, Real Madrid.
In
all these, Chelsea desperately need to retain their league trophy and challenge
for Europe this season and might need to sign a playmaker . It is still too
early to conclude if Jose Mourinho will sanction such purchase but time
will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment